… that anyone would think we actually need a law to protect our First Amendment rights.

Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and 21 Republican co-sponsors have re-introduced The First Amendment Defense Act which went nowhere in 2015.

The legislation would

“ensure” that the federal government could not take discriminatory action against anybody who “speaks, or acts, in accordance with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as a union of one man and one woman or two individuals as recognized under Federal law” and

prohibit any action against those who believe that sexual relations outside marriage are improper.

When he was running for president in the 2016 race, President Donald Trump said he would sign the measure if it passes both the House and Senate.

Religious Freedom and Marriage in Federal Law by Thomas Messner – January 30, 2014

“Legal recognition of same-sex marriage will increase the potential for conflicts with religious freedom. The majority opinion in the recent U.S. Supreme Court case United States v. Windsor intensifies these concerns by characterizing traditional marriage policy as a form of irrational prejudice.”

In an extraordinary procedural move, the government appealed directly to the Supreme Court. Under normal procedure, the government would challenge Alsup’s order at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a principle antagonist to Trump’s ambitions throughout his presidency. Solicitor General Noel Francisco, the government’s Supreme Court lawyer, argued the case required the tribunal’s urgent attention, as Alsup’s decision “requires the government to sanction indefinitely an ongoing violation of federal law being committed by nearly 700,000 aliens.”
The justices rarely grant such requests.http://dailycaller.com/2018/02/26/supreme-court-daca-appeal/

Terry McAuliffe: ‘Who Better To Take On Trump Than Me?’
THIS IS THE MOST VICIOUS PUNK IN POLITICS
Of course, we’re barely into Year 2 of President Trump, but that doesn’t mean Democrats aren’t jockeying right now to get into position to run in 2020. And as dirty as Hillay and Bill are, McAuliffe is that times 10 — or 1,000. Plus, all the filthy Clinton leeches are without a host, now that Hillary has lost for a second time and vows not to run again.https://www.dailywire.com/news/27564/terry-mcauliffe-who-better-take-trump-me-joseph-curl

If unions lose the Janus case, how will they survive? Best bet is to reinvent themselves as professional associationsIN WISCONSIN, UNIONS AND DEMOCRATS (REDUNDANT) POURED MORE THAN 10 MILLION DOLLARS INTO AN EFFORT TO GET RID OF GOVERNOR WALKER AND THE REPUBLICAN MAJORITY. THEY LOST. UNIONS NOW CANNOT COMPEL ANY MEMBER TO PAY DUES. THEIR CASH FLOW CRATERED.
There’s much more than free speech at stake here, though. If the court sides with Janus, unions across the country stand to lose millions of dollars a year in guaranteed revenue — potentially enough to cripple their operations. Nobody would be hit harder than the nation’s two largest teachers’ unions — including the National Education Association, the largest public sector union in the country.http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/unions-lose-janus-case-survive-article-1.3838168

Drugs suspect on toilet strike for 38 days ‘would rather die than take a poo’
I DON’T THINK IT’S PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE TO GO THAT LONG WITHOUT GOING
A suspected drug dealer on a record-breaking toilet strike would rather die than take a poo, his lawyer has said. Lamarr Chambers, 24, has now spent 38 days in police custody after Essex Police arrested and detained him on January 17.
Officers believe he swallowed some of the drugs before his arrest in Harlow, Essex, and they have been patiently waiting for him to finally go ever since.https://www.freedomsphoenix.com/News/235466-2018-02-26-drugs-suspect-on-toilet-strike-for-38-days-39-would.htm

Michelle Obama’s upcoming memoir replicates Obama’s road to power to a TAs Lifson notes, the Democrats are in bad shape, at least if they run on policies. But if they can galvanize the black vote, which is what they did with Obama, they are in a position to win. They are sure they can’t win if they don’t. What would be more logical than for Michelle Obama to write an identity politics book, in first person, Oprah-style, as a backdrop “narrative” to galvanize those voters? The Obamas always were about “narrative” as a means of concealing their policy objectives by promoting their personas. Obama’s “mind-meld,” and right hand man, after all, was fiction writer and major Ben Rhodes. Ol’ Ben knew more than anyone about creating “narratives.”https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/02/michelle_obamas_upcoming_memoir_replicates_obamas_road_to_power_to_a_t.html#ixzz58F5az0lS

Elementary School Students Surprise WWII Veteran with Gifts After He Lost His Home in a Fire http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/02/25/video-elementary-school-students-surprise-wwii-veteran-gifts-lost-home-fire/

It’s Not About Saving Lives: Democratic Senator Says Gun Debate Will Help His Party In MidtermsDid anyone catch Sen. Bill Nelson’s (D-FL) rather gratuitous swipe at Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday? CNN held a town hall event in Sunrise, Florida hosted by Jake Tapper, where National Rifle Association Dana Loesch and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) literally ventured into the lion’s den. Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) also participated. It was a two-hour bashing of Rubio, the NRA, Loesch, every law-abiding gun owner, and every supporter of the Second Amendment. It was show trial, a North Korean kangaroo court that resembled something out of the two minutes of hate from Orwell’s 1984.https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2018/02/24/its-not-about-saving-lives-democratic-senator-says-gun-debate-will-help-his-par-n2453485

Sarah Huckabee Sanders cops to making a rare mistake and says Trump has not confirmed for WHCD yet – but WILL go to Gridiron
The White House told DailyMail.com Monday that President Trump would attend the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, but then walked it back
The president will, however, attend this year’s white-tie Gridiron dinner, an event also hosted by Washington journalists
Trump skipped both the Gridiron and the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner last year as he warred with the so-called ‘fake news’
The president’s willingness to go to the Gridiron suggests he may be open to attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinner as wellPresident Obama said a President Trump would bring ‘change’ to the White House, and then this image flashed to the audience of the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner

As country listens to Florida teens, Black Lives Matter youths feel ignoredTHIS IS THE CRAP IN THE PAPERS I DELIVER EVERY DAY.
The young people of Black Lives Matter are hurt. And they have every right to be.
When they were protesting in the streets of cities across America, much of the country didn’t bother to listen to their message. They were not embraced by the mainstream for their bravery, their determination or resolve to bring attention to reckless police killings that disproportionately impact young African-Americans.
In a tweet last week, Oprah Winfrey said the inspiring youths in Florida reminded her of the “Freedom Riders of the 60s who also said we’ve had ENOUGH and our voices will be heard.” She pledged to match George and Amal Clooney’s $500,000 donation to the youths’ March for Our Lives planned for March 24.http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/glanton/ct-met-florida-teens-black-lives-matter-dahleen-glanton-20180223-story.html

U.S. Army Awards ‘Heroism Medals’ to 3 JROTC Students Killed in Florida High School ShootingTHESE YOUNG PEOPLE SHOWED MORE GUTS THAN THE COWARDLY COPS WHO CRINGED OUTSIDE WHILE INNOCENTS WERE BEING SLAUGHTERED
The U.S. Army announced Tuesday that Alaina Petty, Martin Duque, and Peter Wang—who were all students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and also served as cadets in the school’s JROTC program—would receive JROTC Heroism Medals for their acts of bravery during Wednesday’s shooting.
Army spokesman Michael Maddox said that Petty’s family had been presented with the award at her funeral Monday, and Wang’s family received the award during his funeral service Tuesday. Duque’s family will accept the medal at his funeral service Saturday.http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/02/20/u-s-army-awards-heroism-medals-to-3-jrotc-students-killed-in-florida-high-school-shooting/

Did the PA Supreme Court Just Make it Easier for Dems to Win in the Midterms?An important swing state may have just swung in Democrats’ favor. Although Republicans hold 13 House seats in Pennsylvania to Democrats’ five, a new ruling from the state supreme court appears to give the Democrats a favorable new congressional map.THE DEMOCRATS WILL PICK UP 4-5 EXTRA SEATS BEFORE A BALLOT IS CAST. THEY ARE GOING TO STEAL THIS ELECTION IN ORDER TO GET A MAJORITY AND IMPEACH TRUMP.https://townhall.com/tipsheet/cortneyobrien/2018/02/20/pa-gerrymandering-n2451620

Suspected poacher killed, eaten by pack of lionsA suspected poacher was fatally mauled and eaten by a pack of lions near a national park in South Africa, leaving behind just the man’s “head and some remains,” police said.
A police spokesman in Limpopo told AFP that a loaded hunting rifle was found near the man’s body early Saturday at a private game park in Hoedspruit, west of Kruger National Park, which contains large numbers of the Big 5 game species — lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant and buffalo.
“It seems the victim was poaching in the game park when he was attacked and killed by lions,” Limpopo police spokesman Moatshe Ngoepe told AFP. “They ate his body, nearly all of it, and just left
THE POACHER WAS ACCOMPANIED BY AN ILLEGAL FUR BUYER FROM EASTERN EUROPE. THE POACHER WAS EATEN BY THE FEMALE LION. THE CZECH WAS IN THE MALE.
THAT WAS LAME…SO WHAT? GET OVER IThttps://nypost.com/2018/02/12/suspected-poacher-killed-eaten-by-pack-of-lions/

Trump’s lawyers reportedly don’t want him talking to Mueller – It’s advice he should take
There is no evidence Robert Mueller needs from Donald Trump – it’s a trap Trump should avoid unless and until the Supreme Court rules otherwise.Those characteristics, while they proved valuable against the comatose and drab Hillary, could be a disaster in an interview with Mueller. Mueller’s team is very experienced in these perjury and obstruction traps. They will not ask any questions they don’t already know the answer to, and the questions they ask will not be posed to obtain information. They have all the information. They will be probing not for information, but for mistakes.
Don’t do it. I don’t know what power Mueller would have to compel testimony, but nothing should be done voluntarily.https://legalinsurrection.com/2018/02/trumps-lawyers-reportedly-dont-want-him-talking-to-mueller-its-advice-he-should-take/

Clinton: Women ‘Will Be Primarily Burdened’ by Climate Change

Schumer Delivers Most Unhinged Rant Yet: Trump ‘Most Dangerous and Worst Man’ Ever To Be POTUS
“We are dealing with probably the most dangerous and worst man in the presidency we have ever had in the history of this nation, but we are going to win the fight,” Schumer told the crowd.
“If we can take back the Senate, that means that I will have the sole power to determine what goes on the floor of the Senate,” he added. “It means we’ll be able stop Donald Trump from putting all his junk on the floor and stop the anti-LGBT cascade of things that come into the United States Senate,” the Senate Minority Leader continued.http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/02/schumer-delivers-unhinged-rant-yet-trump-dangerous-worst-man-ever-potus-video/

Baltimore Mayor Debuts Crime Prevention Office to Support Black MalesMayor Catherine Pugh announced a new office, to be called the Office of African American Male Engagement, which she says will begin operations on February 12. It is modeled after a similar venture in Philadelphia, where it is called the Office of Black Male Engagement.
The mayor also said she has picked former city high school principal and mayoral candidate Andrey Bundley to helm the office.
“The reason the office is important is because too many black men are either the perpetrators of crime or victims of it,” Bundley said, according to the Baltimore Sun. “It is about saving lives.”http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/02/05/baltimore-mayor-debuts-crime-prevention-office-support-black-males/

Judge criticized by Trump may end up determining fate of border wall, report says
US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, whom President Trump accused of being biased in handling the Trump University case during the 2016 election, will hear a case on Friday to decide whether the president’s proposed wall along the southern border can get waivers for environmental laws.
If Curiel rules against President Trump, the administration’s effort to secure the border between the US and Mexico could come to a halt.
Curiel, an Indiana native who was nominated to the federal bench by Barack Obama in 2011, was criticized by the president in 2016 for certifying class-action lawsuits that claimed Trump University was fraudulent.http://www.bizpacreview.com/2018/02/06/judge-criticized-trump-may-end-determining-fate-border-wall-report-says-598728

The 2018 Elections Just Got A Bit Easier For Democrats Thanks To The Supreme Court
The Pennsylvania legislature will redraw the state’s congressional district lines in advance of the 2018 midterm elections, after the Supreme Court Monday declined to overturn an order requiring a new map.
The decision is a victory for Pennsylvania Democrats, who convinced the state supreme court in January that the current map is gerrymandered to favor Republicans, in violation of the state constitution. The court ordered the GOP-controlled legislature to produce a new map by Feb. 9.http://dailycaller.com/2018/02/05/samuel-alito-supreme-court-2018-elections/

Stanford students feel ‘unsafe and hurt,’ brought to tears over flyers defending ICE agentsSome Stanford University students felt “unsafe and hurt” and were apparently brought to tears over satirical flyers defending ICE agents hung in the Kimball Hall dorm.
That according to the student who hung them, Isaac Kipust, who writes he was subsequently summoned before Associate Dean of Students Alejandro Martinez and his aggrieved peers to answer for his actions.http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/41596/

Homelessness in Los Angeles Has Surged by 75 Percent in Six Years
“by far the biggest single group of unsheltered people in any U.S. city”
Three out of four homeless people — 41,000 — live in cars, campers, tents and lean-tos, by far the biggest single group of unsheltered people in any U.S. city. If you took out Los Angeles, national homelessness would have dropped last year for the first time since the recession.
The problem has only gotten worse since Mayor Eric Garcetti took office in 2013 and a liberal Democratic supermajority emerged in 2016 on the county Board of Supervisors.
If you think any of this has caused California to re-think any of its policy positions, guess again. They’re planning to push even further to the left.https://legalinsurrection.com/2018/02/homelessness-in-los-angeles-has-surged-by-75-percent-in-six-years/

Judge Rules Bakeshop Owner Doesn’t Have To Bake Wedding Cake For Gay Couple
“For this court to force such compliance would do violence to the essentials of Free Speech guaranteed under the First Amendment,” Lampe ruled, according to a press release sent to The Daily Caller News Foundation. The injunction also posited that if Miller refused to design the cake, the state would force her to close her Tastries Bakery shop altogether.
LiMandri argued in Friday’s court hearing that Miller doesn’t discriminate against same-sex couples, but refuses to use her artistic talents to express a message that conflicts with her religious beliefs about marriage.http://dailycaller.com/2018/02/06/cake-shop-owner-wedding-cake-gay-couple/

“Opinions about same-sex marriage, gender identity, and sexual moralityare all matters of public importance,” the policy states.“USDA respects the First Amendment rightsof USDA personnel, as well as non-USDA personnel working at facilities inspected by USDA, to share their varying viewpoints on these topics, whether through oral discussion, the display or distribution of literature, or other means.”

The document makes official a wide definition of sincerely held beliefs.“Under federal regulations, religious beliefs include theistic beliefs (such as those that include a belief in God) as well as non-theistic ‘moral or ethical beliefs as to what is right and wrong which are sincerely held with the strength of traditional religious views.’”

The free speech guidelines were made necessary because of the Obama government’s threat to run a Christian meat packer out of business over a pro-marriage pamphlet on a break-room table.

The HHS Mandate will no longer be enforced against organizations with a sincerely held religious or moral objection.The exemption must be granted to anyone with a reasonable objection who requests it. The days of pleading for a waiver are over.

What’s more, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a powerful memorandum about religious liberty to all federal agencies and departments. Among other things, it says:

The freedom of religion is an important, fundamental right, expressly protected by federal law.

The freedom of religion extends to persons and organizations.

Government may not officially favor or disfavor particular religious groups.

Religious employers are entitled to employ only persons whose beliefs and conduct are consistent with the employers’ religious precepts.

The federal government may not condition federal grants or contracts on the religious organization altering its religious character, beliefs, or activities.

The burden of proof has finally shifted back to the government where it belongs. This is a great leap forward for our First Amendment right to religious freedom.

All this information is as of 4:30 AM Chicago time. There will obviously be updates during the day.
Gunman with Automatic Weapon Opens Fire on Concert Goers at Vegas Route 91 Harvest Music Festival – At Least 20 Dead and 100 InjuredThe sold out event with many of the biggest names in country music was in progress when shots were fired. Videos of the event show the concert in progress and then suddenly multiple gun shots from an automatic weapon being fired.
The suspect shooter is dead but his companion Marilou Danley is still at large, according to Joseph Lombardo, the sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan police department.

How the Democrats Set Up Puerto Rico for Disaster
What New Orleans, Houston and Puerto Rico have in common.We’ve seen this show before.
When there’s a national disaster, neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble, shelters are filled with crying families, and a Republican is in the White House, the Democrats jump into action.
Not to help, but to make political capital from a disaster that they helped cause.
After Hurricane Katrina, the media shrieked that survivors inside the New Orleans Superdome were murdering each other. But there actually wasn’t a single murder in the Superdome. And no, NBC’s Brian Williams never saw any corpses floating past the Ritz-Carlton. The media exaggerated and lied.http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/268026/how-democrats-set-puerto-rico-disaster-daniel-greenfield

Carr: Left cries 1st Amendment only when convenientSpecifically, George Soros et al. care about those useful idiots in shoulder pads whom they want to use in their unending attempts to overturn the results of the 2016 presidential election.
What about the Christian bakers in Oregon who were sued out of business for refusing to bake a cake for a gay wedding? Or the clerk in Kentucky (a Democrat by the way) who refused to issue a marriage license to a gay couple? Don’t they have the same First Amendment rights as the Beautiful People?http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/howie_carr/2017/09/carr_left_cries_1st_amendment_only_when_convenient

Menendez has set a new low for blatant corruption in the USMenendez is facing charges that he sold his US Senate office to a Palm Beach, Fla., eye doctor, his co-defendant Salomon Melgen, for bribes in the form of private jets stocked with Menendez’s favorite beverages, a private villa at one of the lushest resorts in the Caribbean, and a Paris hotel suite for which Melgen spent 650,000 American Express points.http://nypost.com/2017/09/30/menendez-has-set-a-new-low-for-blatant-corruption-in-the-us/

Kasich hints at leaving GOP if it’s not ‘fixed’“If the party can’t be fixed, Jake, then I’m not going to be able to support the party. Period. That’s the end of it.” Kasich said in an interview with anchor Jake Tapper.
Asked what that meant for his future in the GOP, Kasich said he was committed to the party and intended to win it over from the surging nationalist wing.
“I want this party to be straightened out,” Kasich said.http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/01/politics/john-kasich-republican-party-cnntv/

Local high school football players kicked off team after protest during anthemTwo Victory & Praise Christian Academy football players were kicked off the team for protesting during the national anthem at a game Friday night.
Cedric Ingram-Lewis raised his fist while cousin Larry McCullough knelt during the anthem ahead of the team’s game against Providence Classical.
After the anthem ended, head coach Ronnie Mitchem instructed them to take off their uniforms and kicked them off the team. Mitchem is a former Marine and pastor who started the church-based football program in Crosby six years ago.http://www.chron.com/sports/highschool/article/High-school-football-kicked-off-team-anthem-kneel-12242713.php

The original plan was to do a post on different news — anything to avoid having to talk about the 800 pound gorilla in the room. But stoking the fires of racial hatred has always been a favorite sport of the media whores, taken to an art form by Emperor Barack I, who showed them how to do it. Fort Hood, Trayvon, Ferguson, Baltimore, always quick to accuse police and white people before any relevant facts are known. I believe his attitude was interpreted by some as approval to take revenge on innocent victims.
We have long been accused of racism, homophobia, xenophobia, sexism and all manner of other phobias. The handful of White Nationalists foolishly gave Antifa and BLM an excuse to do what they do best — beat up innocent people when they have them outnumbered 20-1. It was the validation of every leftist’s masturbatory fantasy of seeing white extremists get their comeuppance. Facts matter little when there is an agenda to be advanced.
The white group had a permit and a legal right to assemble. It was the obligation of law enforcement to keep the counter protesters at bay, as they did for the Nazis when they marched in Skokie. Then came the intervention by the lowest form of egg-sucking bastards who ever drew a dishonest breath,Terry McAuliffe, who ordered police to stand down. He pulled their valid permit and funnelled them into the waiting arms of mouth-breathing bastards who live to hurt people. If you think it sounds like a George Soros operation, you may be right.

President Trump came out and denounced ALL violence. That wasn’t nearly enough for the pricks who scream “BLACK LIVES MATTER.” He had to issue a second condemnation singling out the separatists.
Of course, when there exists a white-hot rage against someone who is despised as having interrupted their dreams of a socialist utopia the bile flows like an ocean tide.
Mainstream Media Exploit Charlottesville Violence to Help the Left
The mainstream media enjoys grousing about supposed threats to the First Amendment under President Donald Trump. But few are bothering to stand up for the basic right of freedom of speech in the wake of violent clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia between white supremacists and left-wing “anti-fascist” rioters.http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2017/08/13/media-exploit-violence-help-democrats/

Rich Lowry on Charlottesville: “There was violence on both sides”
Takes on Joy Reid Over “Anti-fascist” Violence, “White Nationalist” in White House
REID WAS SEETHING BECAUSE SHE WAS JUST A GUEST AND COULDN’T CUT LOWRY OFF LIKE SHE DOES AT MSDNC
Lowry made the point that the so-called “anti-fascists” in Charlottesville also engaged in violence, and the violence was not one-sided, as the videos show. Reid refused to admit that there was violence on both sides, claiming “there was certainly not.”
Kudos to Lowry for having the courage to confront Reid, someone generally unaccustomed to being contradicted.